Monthly Archives: May 2015

This book is the third installment in the series, The Mephisto Covenant.  This series is about the brothers who are part of the Mephisto covenant, a group of brothers who keep the souls of the damned from their evil brother, Eryx.

This particular book is very dark.  The main protagonists are Mariah and Phoenix.  Mariah’s background is very disturbing – she is an abuse survivor – quite a lot of the pain she goes through is revealed in the book, so be prepared for this.  It is very disturbing at times, but, it is essential to the story and blends in really well.

This book can be read as a standalone read, which is how I read it, or as part of the series.  Obviously, it makes sense to read the entire series, just because the books blend into one another, but I found that I wasn’t confused about the series as at the beginning of the book there is an in-depth explanation about the characters.  Other reviews have said that the description of the characters at the beginning confuses everything, or that it is boring, but I found none of that to be true.  It certainly helps if you haven’t read any of the other books.

Being a sci-fi/fantasy book the storyline is not based in reality, but as with every other book in this genre it’s all about the escapism.  The author puts a new spin on the devil/Lucifer and hell which makes a refreshing change.  The book is well written and deals with the very emotive subject of rape and abuse really well and in a sensitive way.  You cannot help but feel the gamut of emotions that Mariah goes through, especially when her well controlled thoughts start to unravel.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and would recommend it to anyone who loves this genre.

Highly recommended.  5 stars.  *****

I reviewed this book via netgalley.  I made the mistake of reading the reviews on goodreads before getting started.  I really wish I hadn’t.  The reviews I read said that the book had initially been written in French and had been translated into American English.  Many people slated the book for that particular purpose so I read a couple of pages and then stopped, thinking it was going to be really awful.  But I went back to it a few days later and once I get used to changing certain words back into French – i.e. Mom to Mama and inserting Cherie instead of whatever it had been translated to I actually found the story flowed quite well.

This book centres around the Laverzac family, Jules in particular.  I read somewhere how this book is like the book version of Dallas or Dynasty, which made me laugh, but I can actually see why the comparison was made.  The book charts the ups and downs of the Laverzac family life, their lives as wine producers and the love triangle right within the family.  As with all families their are secrets, some are just kept from the outside world and some are kept from other family members by family members.

In the book there is scandal, there is intrigue and there is plenty of drama to keep the reader hooked right the way through to the end.  I have to say after I decided to just delve in to the book I did actually enjoy reading it.  Of course the translation does cause a few issues for the reader – but as I found if you remember to change certain words back to their French translation you don’t have too much trouble.

The book is well written, the characters are rich and privileged, they didn’t feel real to me because their lives are so far removed from mine I actually could not relate to most of their issues.  The book was pure escapism, I couldn’t say it was true to life because like I said, my life and their lives are so far apart.

If you are looking for a light hearted book that is big on intrigue and scandal then this book is for you.

Recommended.